The Tiger and The Wolf
by LadieTAG
Summary: A very different way that Jane could have handled things after the Daria/Tom betrayal.


The Tiger and The Wolf

A week earlier, Jane had stared at the same tiger for inspiration, now she was looking at it for answers. It was seventy-two hours ago that her best friend and now ex-boyfriend had committed an act of betrayal that Jane wondered if she would ever recover from. She looked at the creature, in it's beauty and mystery, as it sat in the front of it's cage staring worriedly into the cage next to it. Jane's attention soon turned to the creature that was in the attached cage. The lone grey wolf, whose eyes were etched in sadness, sat in the corner of it's enclosure, directly looking at the tiger - with it's paw lightly tapping the bars that separated the two creatures. Jane watched in amazement as the tiger made it's way over to the wolf, their paws now barely touching.

Jane's attention turned the information blocks and grabbed one of the brochures and sat down on the bench that was located across from the two cages. It told the tale of two animals, Sasha - a Siberian Tiger cub, whose family was separated when a bad storm had nearly destroyed the zoo they had been kept at and Romeo - a North American Grey Wolf cub who had been shunned by his pack as the runt of the litter and had been beaten up badly by his younger, but more dominant brother. _Outcasts, even in nature, kinda reminds me of Daria and myself._ Both arrived at the Lawndale Zoo on the same day. The two hunters, who would have never met in their usual habitats, quickly became friends. Jane's thoughts returned to Daria, whose path she might have never crossed had Daria not moved to Lawndale.

Jane stared down at the photos of the two animals playing, eating out of the same bowl, taking naps together. As they grew, the bonds of this off friendship strengthened. When it came time for them to have their own enclosures, they were put in different parts of the zoo. The staff realized quickly that the move had been a mistake. Neither animal ate and would cry for the other. Not even two weeks later, they were given their own special enclosure. For some reason, Jane thought back to when Daria spent the weekend at Grove Hill. Although Jane didn't show it outwardly, she had been worried that Daria would not be returning to Lawndale High. When Romeo developed a cold and had to be quarantined for a week, Sasha paced around nervously until the wolf's return. Another memory from when Daria had been sent to the hospital came into mind.

Jane then began to wonder why the two had been separated, the brochure didn't say. Jane asked one of the handlers at the zoo. The keeper sat down next to Jane and explained that a nearby zoo had wanted to mate their female tiger with Sasha. So the sectioned off Romeo from Sasha to see if the two tigers would mate. Romeo didn't care for Eva, and would growl at her whenever she would come towards his enclosure. Again, Jane's thoughts strayed to Daria and the jealous fits she threw when Jane and Tom first got together. At least your best friend couldn't kiss your girlfriend, Sasha. A small frown came over Jane's face when the keeper explained that Eve rejected Sasha and the other zoo had picked her up. Then came Romeo's turn - but Romeo wanted to spend his time sitting next to Sasha instead of being around Storm. Jane wondered if that was how Daria and Tom were going to end up. Storm was picked up a little over a week ago. Jane asked if the two animals would be put back together, the zoo keeper smiled and told her that they were removing the one set of bars that divided the cage later on that week.

Jane thanked the zookeeper, folded up the brochure and placed it in her pocket. She looked at the two animals, whose now sleeping bodies were leaning against the bars that separated them. Jane gave a small laugh to herself when she thought about how she said that Daria had been a little bit of both the lady or the tiger. She knew in that moment she had been wrong, Daria wasn't the tiger, she herself was - beautiful, fast, muscular, and mysterious. Daria was the wolf, - lonely, quiet, sad, and loyal.

That night, Jane glanced back and forth between the brochure and her phone. She was still amazed at how similar of lives she and Daria and the two creatures shared, especially the fact that it seemed that the one was never happy unless the other was around. After several minutes of debating, Jane picked up the phone and dialed the one number she had sworn almost three days ago that she would never call again.

"Hello," a sad monotone voice came over the line.

"Hi."

"Jane?" Daria's voice cracked.

Jane took in the tone of Daria's voice and reigned in all of her own emotions. "Daria - I forgive you."

End


End file.
